CZ vs WSJ: The Great Pardon Debacle

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In a shocking turn of events, Changpeng Zhao (CZ), the enigmatic CEO of Binance, has taken to his favorite social media platform to debunk a Wall Street Journal article that accused him of pushing the president of the U.S. for a pardon. 😲

🚨 CHANGPENG ZHAO HAS BEEN PUSHING TRUMP ADMIN FOR PARDON: WSJ

— *Walter Bloomberg (@DeItaone) March 13, 2025

The esteemed newspaper also claimed that Donald Trump-backed World Liberty Financial was in talks to buy a stake in Binance, posting photos of CZ and Trump next to each other, hinting that negotiations are being held with Zhao. 📰

Sorry to disappoint. The WSJ article got the facts wrong.
More than 20 people have told me they were asked by the WSJ (and another media), “Can you confirm that CZ made some deal for a pardon?”
They probably asked hundreds of people to have 20 people reach out to me. In…

— CZ 🔶 BNB (@cz_binance) March 13, 2025

CZ denies any Binance stake negotiations

CZ himself, who continues to hold 90% of the Binance stake, has denied having any negotiations with the president’s administration on this issue or asking the president for a legal pardon in this way. 🙅‍♂️

“Sorry to disappoint. The WSJ article got the facts wrong,” he tweeted. CZ said that the WSJ has probably asked “hundreds of people to have 20 people” reach out to him. They told CZ about what was happening.

“In essence, they tried hard to make a story to report,” CZ wrote about the WSJ story. 📝

The former Binance CEO stated that he had no discussions about the Binance US deal with anyone at all to get himself pardoned by the U.S. president: “Fact: I have had no discussions of a Binance US deal with…well, anyone.”

CZ admitted that he does not mind getting a pardon, but he believes that this article looked more like “motivated as an attack on the President and crypto,” blaming this on the previous administration: “The residual forces of the ‘war on crypto’ from the last administration are still at work.” 💥

Zhao said that he is “happy to make crypto great everywhere, US and the rest of the world.” 🌍

Here’s what CZ’s been up to recently

As a reminder, CZ spent four months in the U.S. last year, from May to September, on charges of breaking the Bank Secrecy Act. However, he was forced to step down from the CEO position at Binance and was replaced with Richard Teng in November 2023. 👨‍⚖️

He has started his own online education nonprofit project called Giggle Academy to educate underprivileged children in English, math and blockchain. 🎓

Recently, CZ also shared an update about the book he has been writing. Last year, before starting his prison term, he tweeted that he would have plenty of free time and might write a book. 📚

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2025-03-13 18:29